Wiktoria and the Olympians

Siedem. The Fleece

Luke looked at me and grinned. He held his sword as Percy talked to his friends. Percy turned just to see a sword at his neck. "Hey, cuz," said Luke. "Welcome back to the States."

His bear-man thugs appeared on either of side of them. One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke.

"Percy," Luke said calmly, "tell your giant to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friends' heads together."

Oreius grinned and raised Annabeth and Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming.

"What do you want, Luke?" Percy growled.

He smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face. He gestured toward the end of the dock, and Percy noticed what should've been obvious. The biggest boat in port was the Princess Andromeda.

"Why, Percy," Luke said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course."

The bear twins herded them aboard the Princess Andromeda. They threw them down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. A dozen of Luke's assorted goons—snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor—had gathered to watch them get some "hospitality."

"And so, the Fleece," Luke mused. "Where is it?" He looked us over, prodding my shirt with the tip of his sword, poking Grover's jeans.

"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"

"Sorry, old friend." Luke smiled. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."

"Blaa-ha-ha!" Grover protested. "Some old friend!"

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Luke's voice was dangerously calm. "Where—is—the—Fleece?"

"Not here," Percy said. "We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up."

Luke's eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have ..." His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. "Clarisse?"

Percy nodded. I nearly died of laughter and stood with the demigods.

"You trusted ... you gave ..."

"Yeah."

"Agrius!"

The bear giant flinched. "Y-yes?"

"Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast.'"

"But, boss—"

"Do it!" Luke screamed. "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!"

The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy. Maybe they'd never seen Luke boss so unhinged before.

"You've been toying with us all along," Percy said. "You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

Luke scowled. "Of course, you idiot! And you've messed everything up!"

"Traitor!" He dug a gold drachma out of his pocket and threw it at Luke. As expected, he dodged it easily.

The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-colored water.

"You tricked all of us!" Percy yelled at Luke. "Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" So he was smarter then he looked.

Percy uncapped Riptide. Luke just sneered. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."

"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?"

"I did, of course," he snarled. "I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus."

"Chiron had nothing to do with it?"

"Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts."

"You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?"

Luke raised his sword. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece ... once I was done with it."

"You were going to heal Kronos," Percy muttered.

"Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little."

"And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up—all to help Kronos destroy the gods."

Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"

"Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you."

"What audience?"

Then his eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back. I laughed like a mad man.

Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching us. "Well," said Dionysus dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."

"Mr. D, you heard him," Percy said. "You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault."

Mr. D sighed. "I suppose not."

"The Iris-message could be a trick," Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.

"I fear not," Mr. D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games."

Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn't bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world. "I got it!" he cackled.

"We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus," Mr. D announced.

Tantalus looked stunned. "What? But—"

"You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed."

"No! But—Nooooooooooo!"

As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. But it was too late. He disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. The campers exploded into cheering.

Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.

Luke turned and gave Percy a murderous look. "Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced."

One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around us, the brass tips of their spears bristling.

Luke smiled at him. "You'll never leave this boat alive."

"Wow, now your threatening kids, how bad can you be pepperoni?"